Yet another week...

...has passed. So what have I been up to? Last Sunday I went to Toby's Carvery with a bunch of mostly new people for a traditional English roast dinner - delicious! After we hit a pub for drinks, and got some entertaining live music to go with it. Nothing was more amazing than my French friends insisting on singing their own songs though, while the rest of us pretended not to know them all that well! The weekdays have flown past since then; I am getting busier at work, and have tried to spend my spare time in the so-called real world - althoug I have to admit, mostly I have watched old episodes of Top Gear and read books :D Not all of it though! I went to have dinner at Natasha's flat, and I've had coffee with people (well, with Filipe) and ... oh well, I guess that was it. It's been a lot of reading lately, graduate theses as well as diving into Daniel & Jason Freeman's Paranoia - the 21st Centry Fear - which is quite interesting, and an easy introduction to the theme if you're not a paranoia geek (like me). Oh, and I have joined the student gym; probably the achievement of the week. Climbing shall commence on Sunday ! - if the Spanish don't bail on me (again).

Calendar for Tiril's B&B has been added!

For those of you contemplating to visit - and you should contemplate it! - I have added a calendar to my blog that will show the times I am out of town or already busy with visitors [red] and what weekends I have no special plans [green]. If the space is green, you can bet on me being in Edinburgh around that time, with space for people who can entertain themselves while I am at work...

Lost in transition

Who would think that it could ever take 18 hours to get from Tondheim to Edinburgh? I most certainly would not, but that was still the time it took me from my flight left Værnes until I arrived at Edinburgh International Airport--by bus. My flights took me via Amsterdam, where I had a lovely break with an art exhibit in the New Church and dinner at a lovely local café. Departing from Schiphol at 21.15 all seemed well, until we reached Newcastle and it turned out that snow is a shocking thing not only to Londoners but also to Scots. Clearly the stout country fed on porridge and haggis struggle to remove snow from runways, and so the KLM flight landed in Newcastle (where the snow blew away on its own) and sent us to Edinburgh by bus. Oh joy. I crawled into my own bed at 6 am this morning--the wonders sleep can bring...

Edinburgh so far

My lack of blogging in recent times has--yet again--been due to a lack of internet connections. This time not so much the availability, as the practicality. Who would think it so impossible to have internet installed in your own home!? But oh, it takes time, clever considerations, and--in my case mostly--luck. Whereas British Telecom and other broadband providers have been unbelievable difficult to deal with, the neighbouring flat have graced me, Cèdric & Anthony with their connection (for a minor, not-yet-negotiated fee). And so, 21 days after moving in, I am finally online without the National Health Services restricting my movements because I should be working!

So, the brief update is that I have moved to a flat in Bruntsfield, a rather student dominated part of Edinburgh with plenty of little cafés and shops. We're not really talking Obz or Grünerløkka here, but once the weather gets better I suppose it picks up... There is a huge park right across the street from my house, and so I see trees as I wake up in the morning, which I suppose is a luxury in a big town. Edinburgh itself is a really lovely city, truly Medieval in style, with a charming atmosphere. I work at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside, where I am located with the Early Psychosis Support Service. I really enjoy it at EPSS so far, finding my work very interesting and my co-workers friendly and lovely. However, the coming week I am back at NTNU for compulsory classes. My flight is at 5.50 am tomorrow, so I guess I should get packing... Expect further updates on Edinburgh when I return.

The unebearable choices of living

When do you decide that you can live in a place? When do you leave the "this feels like home" behind and go for a place that is ok, but missing at least one of the things you'd like to have if you could--that nice kitchen, the really lovely flat mates that you just clicked with, the perfect location, the stunning room, the price that allows for plenty of fun ... Is it after a week? When you start work? When you're desperate for internet so you can download more Top Gear episodes? At flat no 20? Is it when you run out of shampoo and have to get a new, full, heavy bottle if you want that good but affordable stuff that Boots has on sale? Those are the questions I am asking myself in the afternoons, while at the same time contemplating how many groceries I am willing to buy, or can possibly eat before the weekend, so I don't have to carry them. Do I go for the place that it makes sense to go for (but that my gut doesn't like, for some unknown reason) or do I wait for the weekend and the people who are not home yet but would love to show me their flat once they're back? I got the shampoo (although I wasn't at Boots, and it wasn't on sale) and I didn't compromise--yet. Tomorrow will show if I feel I have to, or wait my nerves out for the (more) perfect combination of factors that make a place "home".

Back in the so-called 'real world'

Just a quick update--I have not vanished; however, as I returned to Norway for a week only, most of my energy was absorbed by the general concepts of Christmas, family, New Year's and moving to another country...

I am currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I will be living for 6 months. The city is undoubtedly lovely, people are friendly, and work seems very promising! I work at a unit for young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital--very exciting. I am currently staying in Budget Backpackers in central Edinburgh, awaiting to find the perfect room in a flat; in the meantime I try to enjoy myself as much as I can.

[More notes about my life here in Scotland should follow.]

Photos from Japan

Ironically, after so long without photos to show you, photos is all I can get on within a reasonable amount of time.. So here goes; my week in Japan!

Fukuoka

The Shinkansen bullet train

This train eventually took me from Fukuoka to Tokyo, then Tokyo--Kyoto, Kyoto--Hiroshima, and finally Hiroshima--Fukuoka.

Downtown Tokyo at night

Temples of Kyoto

Hiroshima

A lovely city; the highlights obviously related to the war history. Photos to come soon.